Why is there no USCCB approval for the YOU program?

Like most of our resources, the YOU program is highly integrated with video, multimedia, and is now available digitally with interactive online formatting. Because of this, and because YOU is a supplemental curriculum, it is simply not the kind of resource that the USCCB is able to evaluate.

In a document linked here, the subcommittee explains that many of our resources are simply not subject to their review process. They clarify that the USCCB, “does not currently review the following components in catechetical programs that may be found on this list: videos, parent and sponsor materials, websites (other than the USCCB, Vatican and the publisher’s own website), digital libraries and any other materials listed on the letter on eligibility and applicability.” Going further, the USCCB doesn’t evaluate materials that, “focus specifically on individual topics, teachings or devotions.”

This does not mean that the USCCB is in any way negating or banning these materials.They go on to clarify further that, “even if these materials are not eligible for a conformity review by the Subcommittee, individual bishops and their diocesan offices typically monitor and approve such catechetical materials for use in schools and parish catechetical programs. It may also happen that the competent bishop will grant a nihil obstat or imprimatur to materials that meet the church's criteria for these declarations.”

Our youth resources have all been granted the appropriate nihil obstat and imprimatur certifying that there is nothing standing in the way of these resources being printed-- in terms of their coherence to the Catholic Faith. As you know, an Imprimatur means, “Let it be printed,” meaning that the bishop who reviewed the document stands behind the orthodoxy of it.